Table of Contents
- Delicious and easy curry recipe with beautiful fresh spices
- Vegetarian and vegan aubergine curry with plenty of flavour
- How to cook aubergine the right way for a curry
- Making the perfect curry sauce, quickly
- How to eat Fragrant Aubergine Coconut Curry
- Similar recipes found on flaevor.com
- Recipe: Fragrant Aubergine Coconut Curry
Delicious and easy curry recipe with beautiful fresh spices
This Fragrant Aubergine Coconut Curry is a really lovely dish with thick-cut seasoned and pan-fried aubergine pieces, chickpeas for texture and a rich red Thai curry coconut sauce spiked with additional lemongrass, ginger and basil. Vegetarian and vegan, you can assemble this dish in less than 1 hour and serve it with rice, flatbreads and other side dishes if you like.
Vegetarian and vegan aubergine curry with plenty of flavour
With a warming element from thickly spiced and stewed coconut milk and large juicy pieces of aubergine taking the place of meat, for those who really appreciate good vegetarian and vegan food, this recipe is a keeper. And why stop at just aubergine and chickpeas? Other vegetables such as courgette, potato, sweet potato, and pumpkin can also be added to make it more hearty.
How to cook aubergine the right way for a curry
As aubergine is the star of this curry, larger pieces are used to replace meat. Pre-salting is still an important part of the cooking process to release excess liquid, of which an aubergine has much. This produces a more sponge-like texture, allowing flavour and marination from the cooking juices and sauce to absorb into the vegetable. Heating a large pan with plenty of oil and pan-frying the aubergine until nicely caramelized makes each piece even more tasty and holds its structure in the sauce.
Making the perfect curry sauce, quickly
Using Thai red curry paste is a great way to create an instant flavour foundation, from there you can add extra aromatics to enhance depth of flavour. Lemongrass and ginger make this dish fragrant and fresh, turmeric adds a lovely colour, then all that’s required is a little time to cook down and thicken the coconut sauce. Within 30 minutes you have a rich restaurant-style curry.
How to eat Fragrant Aubergine Coconut Curry
Once the curry is ready, add a generous squeeze of lime juice and top with either Thai basil leaves or regular sweet basil leaves. For a fusion element in this recipe, the curry is served with a side of buttery basmati rice combined with crunchy almond flakes for extra texture, flatbreads and fresh cold beer. Alternatively, you could serve rice noodles, egg noodles or even vermicelli on the side with an Asian-style salad.
Similar recipes found on flaevor.com
Recipe: Fragrant Aubergine Coconut Curry
A heartwarming vegan and vegetarian curry recipe with a thick rich lemongrass and ginger sauce
Fragrant Aubergine Coconut Curry
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp red Thai curry paste
- 2 lemongrass stalks
- 2cm ginger piece
- 4 large cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp brown or palm sugar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce + 1 tbsp lime juice mixed together
- 2 large aubergines
- 400g tin coconut milk
- 300ml vegetable stock
- 400g tin chickpeas, drained
- 5 spring onions
- 1 lime
- Thai basil or regular sweet basil leaves for garnish
Sides
- 480g basmati rice
- Heaped tsp of butter or margarine
- 4 heaped tbsp almond flakes
- Flatbreads recipe here for homemade versions
Instructions
- Trim the ends of the aubergines, cut into large, long pieces and season with salt, tossing around to coat each piece evenly. Leave to sweat for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, crush the garlic and chop the ginger. Trim the lemongrass stems, leaving only the thick white parts, discarding the green top and removing the first hard outer layer. Finely chop the lemongrass.
- Trim the top and bottom of each spring onion, then slice into 3-4 long pieces.
- In a large non-stick frying pan with plenty of oil, cook the aubergines over a medium heat until nicely caramelised on each side. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Heat a pan with a little oil and add the Thai curry paste. After 10 seconds, add the lemongrass and garlic and cook for another 20 seconds (be careful not to burn or dry out).
- Return the aubergine to the pan with the chickpeas, coconut milk, stock, sugar, turmeric and lime-infused soy sauce. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and cook gently, uncovered, until the aubergine is tender but not mushy, about 15 minutes. By this time the sauce should be nice and thick. Add the spring onions and cook for a few more minutes until soft.
- Whilst the curry bubbles away, cook rice to packet instructions. When ready, stir through butter or margarine. Keep warm.
- Remove curry from the heat. Stir through minced ginger. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. Allow the curry to rest for 5 minutes.
- Stir the almond flakes into the rice and warm the flatbreads.
- Cut the whole lime in half. Keep one piece whole and cut the other half into 4 wedges.
- Before serving, add the juice of the halved lime to the curry and stir to combine. Garnish with basil leaves. Serve with extra lime wedges, rice, pita bread and beer.
